Penny Arcade

Located at www.penny-arcade.com, Mike and Jerry (referred to now on as their aliases Gabe and Tycho) have created quite a business out of a small comic strip that began in 1998. The index is the news post for the most recent comic (updated Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) with a link to their latest comic. One can then scroll back and forth between all their comics or simply go to the search archive and proceed from their. On each days post, they talk about various things usually related to gaming. From their it’s pretty much to the forums, which is quite the thriving community in and of itself.

Their place is their community and the comic strip. But they draw you in further to a ‘community’ and ‘place’ with the events the create. From Child’s Play, a Christmas time charity getting game toys for hospitalized children, to PAX, the Penny Arcade Expo featuring game tournaments and developer showings, they have truly extending themselves from a simple website and into the real world.

Xboxyde

Located at www.xboxyde.com, this site is the place to go for leaks concerning both the Xbox and Xbox 360. They get the latest magazine scans, videos, and screenshots of upcoming titles for both systems. Their home page is a list of updates that you select to view further. The page you are taken to will contain either screenshots, a scan, or a link to download a video, with user comments below.

The comments and feedback are basically the small community at Xboxyde. Their place is small with some pieces of info and footage, follow by a few comments.

Compare and Contrast

Xboxyde was never meant to be a large community (I hope it wasn’t), and it serves its place quite well. It takes a small market (advanced news and leaks) and lets people respond as they view them. Penny Arcade uses their popularity to extend itself far beyond its website, making themselves a true force in the industry. If Xboxyde is a small bootleg store then Penny Arcade is your community center. PA is more then just a web comic, and that approach has clearly propelled them forward. PA is clearly more effective.